EMC Revs Powerful NAS Server

As previously reported,
EMC has created a network attached storage (NAS) gateway to
target environments with thousands of file systems.

Tom Joyce, EMC vice president of platforms, confirmed the Celerra NSX NAS
will rev up to 300,000 network file system (NFS)
operations per second. The machine will come with new X-Blade server
technology and clustering to help corporations consolidate NAS systems and
share files.

Administrators can deploy Celerra NSX in a four-blade configuration, scaling
performance online up to eight X-Blades. NSX supports up to 16 terabytes
terabyte of usable capacity per X-Blade, with a maximum capacity of
112 terabytes.

The system can’t ferry files on its own. It will be supported by Dart 5.4,
the latest Celerra operating system, which features several new bits
software to efficiently manage data movement. Dart 5.4 will run on any
Celerra system, but it has been optimized for NSX.

Joyce said new perks will help users merge direct attached storage (DAS)
DAS with iSCSI, iSCSI. This combination will help automate
data movement from one tier to another in environments with several large
file systems. EMC had deployed iSCSI on Celerra gatewayds in “one-off”
scenarios, but is now regularly offering the deployment.

To bolster NSX, EMC has also created new virtual file system technology to
ease the management of file systems as customers scale capacity. The
software makes several separate file systems appear as one, to be managed
through a single graphical user interface in NSX.

Additional Celerra NSX benefits include redundant hot-swappable components,
N+1 clustering, dual control stations, and dual uninterrupted power systems
(UPS). Celerra Manager has also been upgraded to monitor and notify
administrators when the file system is full, based on historical usage
patterns.

EMC also trotted out new Centera FileArchiver (CFA) software, which will
help customers migrate data from a Celerra NAS system to the Centera content
addressed storage (CAS) archive.

NSX systems will be available from EMC in May. A four-X-Blade NSX system
will cost $278,250 and includes Celerra Manager and SnapSure replication
software, dual management stations and power systems (UPS).

The software make NSX the most powerful NAS system on the market, as Joyce
said the NSX will deliver more than four times the performance of the
current leading NAS gateway, Network Appliance’s GF980C.

NSX is part of EMC’s move to gain share in the lucrative NAS space, where
the Hopkinton, Mass., concern plays second fiddle to NetApp. NetApp and EMC
own 37 percent and 34 percent of the NAS market, respectively, according to
IDC.

Article originally appeared on Internetnews.com.